Butler's Folly

[RoadDog]

About 1:30 this morning back on December 24, 1864, the USS Louisiana was blown up with over 200 tons of gunpowder in an effort Genl. Butler hoped would knock Fort Fisher's earthen ramparts down.

All that happened was the sudden awakening of the fort's garrison who assumed either a blockade-runner or blockader had blown up.

The fleet opened up the biggest-ever bombardment up to that time. The First Battle of Fort Fisher was on.

[5fish]

Butler was just being gentlemanly by giving the rebel boys a heads up....I would not have called it Butlers folly for his folly was not that ship he exploded. His folly was the failed land assault later which gave Grant his chance to moved Butler out of his command..

[gary]

Butler's blunders saved lives - those of his men. I would have served under Butler before Grant, Lee or Sherman and especially Hood. Those guys would have gotten a feller kilt.

[Susquehanna River Rat]

Gen. Butler had only endorsed the idea of using the Louisiana as a large bomb. The idea was originally from Secretary of the Navy Gustavas Fox. It was supposed to be towed 400 yards from Fort Fisher but because of the darkness, it ended up 500 yards from the beach. The Lousiana was carrying 215 tons of explosives with timework detonators. The sailors aboard the Wilderness that towed the Louisiana into the harbor, set the timers but additionally set fires on the ship in case the timers failed to function. Before the explosion, though, the Lousiana had drifted 1,100 yards away from the fort. The fires reached the explosives before the timers went off causing various minor detonations. The explosion therefore never reached the magnitude that it should have and at that distance had absolutely no effect except for a fantastic light show at night.
The original amphibious assault on Ft Fisher with Butler would have never worked in the first place. The soldiers were worn out from riding out Atlantic storms on the ships, they lost a lot of there equipment during these storms. The Naval bombardment, although massive, had little effect on the fort or it´s occupants. Butlers reconnassaince troops got close to the walls only to be unexpectantly met by a full complement of Confederate soldiers on the ramparts. During some skirmishes, Confederate soldiers were taken prisoner. They reported that Gen Hoke and 6,000 Confederate soldiers were coming down on Butlers rear flank. With the fear of being trapped, Butler called off the attack and ordered a retreat.

What I personally find unexceptable about Butler is the fact that he left 700 of his soldiers behind on the beach and wouldn´t go get them until the next day. They could have easily been captured. Just my opinion!